Fast Food Fun

Cupcake Buns + Brownie Burgers + Cookie Fries = One Happy Meal!

Or many…

I can hardly stand how cute these little guys are. You’ve probably seen them around before. I know I have. Cupcakes Take The Cake has featured cute ones. But, they are even cuter in person as I discovered this weekend. Oh my gawd… they just make me want to smile. I switched mine up a little by doing the burger out of brownies. But, you can just as easily make chocolate cupcakes and cut them in thirds to use instead. And if you want more realistic lettuce, tint some coconut (yuck) green.

I really decided to make these when I thought about making a meal out of them for Father’s Day, complete with sugar cookie french fries. I wasn’t sure if they would turn out, but I am so thrilled with the end result. Actually, I think the fries might be my favorite part.

Before I started baking, I made a template for a miniature paper box tray and french fry holder. You can download the 4-page pdf (636 KB) here if you want it. The pdf contains the tray template, french fry holder template (blank & with Happy Father’s Day). It also includes the design for the Happy Father’s Day tissue paper.

I printed the tray template on card stock (heavier weight paper), the french fry template on vellum (semi-transparent paper) and the tissue insert on tracing paper (really thin paper from Canson Art pad).

All three paper weights went through my printer fine – one sheet at a time to be safe. But, if you’re unsure about running the tracing paper through your printer, then just use regular plain white tissue paper.

Cut out the shapes as shown in the picture above with scissors or a sharp blade. Then fold along all the printed lines. Use double-sided tape to secure the flaps. Cut the tissue paper in half and place in the tray print side down.

Now, for the baking. Keeping with the fast food fun theme, I went all mixes on these. That’s right. I said mixes. For the cookies, brownies and the cupcakes. Don’t cringe.

You know I love learning to bake new things from scratch because it’s really empowering and satisfying and it usually tastes better, too. But, before a couple of years ago, I did all my baking from a box and really don’t have a problem using a mix. There, I said it. I feel better now.

So, I picked up several kinds.

The brownies baked first in a 13 X 9 pan. You don’t need any help there.

The cookies came next. I wanted to do rolled sugar cookies and luckily Mrs. Crocker offered some tips on how to convert the mix for better results.

Except I didn’t do the whole floured surface thing. I used parchment paper underneath and on top of the dough. Then I rolled it out with a rolling pin using rubber band spacers attached to ensure an even thickness. This is a really handy trick and so not messy. I got these tips from the book, Cookie Craft. If you want to learn more about rolled sugar cookies, it’s great.

See… perfectly even dough and a clean surface.

Here’s where I started experimenting, but it worked out pretty well.

Cut the dough in thin strips with a sharp knife and then a long cut down the center. The varied lengths are fine because you don’t want all your french fries exactly the same size. Remove the alternating strips so it won’t bake into one giant blob. (Reserve dough strips and repeat) Sprinkle sugar on top of the dough. Bake for about 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

These spread more than I had hoped they would for rolled sugar cookies. I know. I know. The mix thing. But, no problem. Just take your knife and cut each “steak fry” down the center for “skinny fries.” Do this right when they come out of the oven. Sprinkle more sugar on top while they are still warm, too. Lightly rub it on to make sure it sticks good.

And voila……

A big pile of fries. Yum! Try not to eat too many before you serve them. You can’t eat just one. Trust me.

Next up… cupcakes. I made these the next morning to spread out the work.

Boxes, brownies, and fries on one day. Cupcakes and decorating the next.

I baked 24 cupcakes using a yellow cake mix. I also exchanged 1 cup of buttermilk instead of the water. It made them nice and yummy. To test, I greased and floured one 12-cup cupcake tray and used Pam on the second. I wanted my buns to have smooth sides, you know. Well, they came out smooth, but also brown.

You can see what’s coming.

Yes. Yes. I made 24 more cupcakes. This time I used milk instead of water. No reason. Just to try it.

They were good, too. And this time I used paper liners to ensure the right color cupcake bun.

Now it’s time to assemble. Cut each cooled cupcake in half or thirds depending on how tall it is. Cut out 24 circles from the completely cooled brownies and place in between the cupcake bun.I used my ever so handy graduated circle cutters to do the trick. Size 2″ for uniform burgers.

SO ADORABLE ! I use both mixes and from scratch. A great tip I’ve picked up to help the dry mix cupcakes and cake have a firmer texture (especially for making large cakes and 3-D type designs:
simply add 1/4 cup all purpose flour to the mix and one extra egg. That’s it. Really makes it less crumbly. also i NEVER NEVER do tub icing, always home made. Classic Wilton Buttercream mostly. so easy and tastes SO much better. Real butter too, no margarine for me. that’s my 2 cents! love the burgers, definately going to try. I’ve done a large 8″ burger as you’ll see on my FB page. and a hot dog cake, check it out !

i love scratch baking but a few times mixes are my hero when im doing complex deserts with many components or when im just being lazy and have a sweet tooth. ps, i think this recipe is so awsome and i cant wait to try it

These are so cute! I have made them a number of times (for father’s day, friends birthdays, RSPCA cupcake day and just when I feel like baking). I even won a prize for them in the RSPCA most creative cupcake cook competition. I made little brown paper origami bags to put them in and made some sugar fries too. It’s a great idea for creative cooking. I am okay with using packet mixes sometimes. I used a packet mix for the making of these because otherwise I wouldn’t have finished them in the short time I had.

I baked these today and they were amazing!!! Everyone loved them and super tasty too! I also prefer baking them from scratch but this time i made them like you did and replaced water for milk! Lovee thesee and i highly recommend them…my next challenge are the hi-hat cupcakes!

Just finished making these. I made everything from scratch and I used a chocolate cupcake recipe instead of brownies. Next time, I’m definitely using mixes and brownies, it took forever and the chocolate cupcakes fall apart when you cut them out!

I LOVE baking. its like my number one thing i love to do. but, my mom doesn’t care for baking. even though, she went to a baking class. I love to do simple things this is something that’s fun and easy. Don’t let me forget VERY VERY CUTE!! Thanks

Just made the hamburger cupcakes last night. Not only are they super cute but they are really delicious. Brownie and Cupcake together is a fabulous idea. They turned out great, and everyone who saw them just loved them, big hit.

I made these, and its awesome how easy it is to do! I couldn’t use mixes, because they were really expensive, but did it from scratch (except for the icing) They look so good. I think the hardest part was getting the green icing to look like lettuce leaves!

Just had to say thanks for the inspiration. I had my daughter’s 10th birthday at the weekend and got the girls doing a junk food themed cake decorating session. They loved it and it looked great – I even begged the fry packets from McDonalds. Photos on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TheKidsKitchen
I love the site BTW, some gorgeous things though all, as my daughter would say, too cute to eat. So the cupcakes are currently languishing in my kitchen looking gorgeous but getting staler by the minute!!

These are awesome!!! The only thing I did to improve this was use coconut tossed with green food coloring for the lettuce instead of green icing. As far as icing goes the best and easiest icing recipe is 1 stick of butter, 1 package of powdered sugar, 1 package of cream cheese, and 1 tsp. of vanilla extract. Enjoy!!!!!

I have made these for years with vanilla wafers and chocolate cookies in the middle for the hamburter. Kids would take them to school for their birthdays. A lot easier than baking but these cupcakes are really adorable.

I found this recipe via pinterest. Thank you so much for a great idea and great tips on how to successully execute the decorations!
I made these for a work morning tea this week and they were very popular!

Oh my cupcakes, these thinks are cute! I saw on a video that someone used a starbust that was stretched into a small, thin square shape to make the cheese! would be great for people who don’t like too much icing, like me! You can also use pound cake for the fries and use a chocolate cupcake slice for the patty part. I watched a video from the marth stewert show that tought you just how to make the cupcake burger but with pound cake fries! So good!

Bakerella Im glad you post that question. I have an associate degree in pastry and baking for the life of me. I love cake mixes. I love to doctorate mixes from the boxes because with cake mixes you pretty much have a guaranteed consistency verses from scratch you have to follow the recipe to the science. But people don’t want to pay for scratch cake they want the taste but don’t want to pay. But something you cant make from cake mixes such as pound cakes taste better from scratch

for the burger toppings, i user mint leaves for lettuce and slices of kiwi for pickles and yellow fondant for cheese. they looked so realistic. they were so cute i just died! but for the print outs, i couldn’t edit them to say “happy birthday!” CAN you do that or am i just terribly mistaken?

As a busy mom I use cake mixes and tweak them to my liking. My husband has a GL. EN sensitivity so I’ve found Betty Crocker’s GLUTEN FREE CAKE MIXES AND BROWNIES to be delicious! (Note: must mix cake mixes for several minutes in order for them to turn out light and fluffy.)

ONE THING I NEVER DO: store bought premade frosting. I think it tastes horrible. I’m not a fan of buttercream or anything that tastes fake or processed so I either do Pamela’s (gluten free) vanilla or dark chocolate frosting mix(in a package…soo good) or throw together a quick cream cheese frosting

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Cooking from scratch is great when you want the item to be the main focus. Whenever I am going to be decorating though I like to use a boxed mix because its already so time consuming.

One trick I have found is to sift the dry mix through my flour sifter before adding it to the batter. It adds a few minutes to the process but I have gotten the most compliments on the boxed cupcakes I have sifted.

I’m a person who tries most of the time to bake from scratch but I also agree box cake mixes DEFINITELY have a place in ANY bakers/cook’s kitchen. A very DEAR woman I adored who has now passed away received her Home Economic Bachelor’s Degree from the same private woman’s college where I attended. Her younger son was also in my class at school for all 12 years so we knew her very well as I come from a small town. This woman made all of the special event cakes in our family from my parent’s wedding cake all the way through one of her very last, my graduation for my Master’s Degree. She ran all sorts of projects for the public schools, area migrant workers in our area back in the 60s and 70s and many other things. She is one of the very first women who told me that today’s boxed cake mixes are absolutely wonderful (I think to what they may have been like early on) and she had NO problem in using them for many purposes. I have always followed her lead. When I do a special event cake, wedding, shower, special birthday, etc., I always try to bake from scratch. I also love to try new recipes, especially those from other countries and cultures. HOWEVER, there are times, for example…..when I have to arrive at church at 9:45 am on a Sunday morning with at least 3 to 4 baked items for the coffee social time that I LOVE grabbing a box mix and adding to it. I have several cookbooks that are just for this purpose. They start with a box cake mix and add different ingredients and turn it into something wonderful. I especially like to do coffee cakes to take and the folks just LOVE IT that they’re still warm. In today’s fast paced, hectic world these box cake mixes DEFINITELY hold a place in anyone’s kitchen. Hey…..I’ve even seen professional chefs on television use them at times. No one is too good for them.

I found your cakes pinned on Pintetest, and SAVED the pin! My boys have great imagination and great believe in their mom. I try to avoid ‘Bat-cave-cakes-complete-with-batmobile-Robin-Batman-and-the-works’ and guide them towards sonething doable. These are amazing, even for Denmark where mixes are not really abundant. But I Can wing theas from scratch as well without burning a fuse. Thanks for the inspiration.

me and my mom did these a couple of years ago for fathers day and we had to make 6 of them and it only took us about and hour or two to make them but that is only because we did everything at the same time and we didn’t cook any thing before hand so we always had to wait in till it was done being cooked, then it had to cool but over all i am thinking of asking my mom if we can do these again but me doing most of the work.

Just made the burgers. They are adorable! My kids said they look like “crabby patties”. I don’t have sesame seeds on them and the red is really a pink. I’m borrowing dark red and violet tomorrow to see which is better. I peeled the paper off the cupcakes while they were still warm (cup cake came off on paper), but I should’ve waited. When I peeled the paper off when they were cooled, they were great! Of course, I just started a 30 day ab and clean eating program 3 days a go. This is for a bake sale. So, if I just licked the bowl, is that still cheating??? :0) Tomorrow I make the fries!!

I made these for my kids bday and they were amazing! everyone loved them – totally blew the kids away. The whole presentation with the paper tray and holder for the Fries was so great. Thanks for the PDF! So helpful and I saved money by being able to make the holders on my own!

This is such a great idea! We’re planning an ‘I DO’ BBQ for my daughter’s engagement barbeque/party, and I’m thinking of making these and some ‘hot dog’ cakes with a Wilton twinkie baking pan….my question is this, without frosting on top, or the protection of the cupcake liner, will the cakes dry out and harden somewhat when exposed to air? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

i really don’t want to have to run to the store if I don’t have to, my 12 year old grand daughter ( soon to be 13) has asked me to make these for her birthday, can white cake mix be used? Or does it have to be yellow.

This is super cute. I made these for a 4th of July party 2015. They were a hit. I made a couple dozen but didn’t make enough. I needed to make more. I heard others talking and saying “you have to try the burger cupcakes and fries”. They went fast.

I also used a mini cupcake pan for the brownies and cut them in half for the “meat”.

I changed the french fry template to say Happy 4th of July. I think I’ll make them again for this years 4th of July party.